The Only Exception
by Adoration of an Enigma
Summary: After jumping from pack to pack Bran finally places Nova in a pack which could be her last chance to find a home. The Trinity River Pack accepts her with open arms but will she accept them back and finally share her past? And maybe find more than a home?
1. Prologue: Second Chance

**Second Chance**

"I found a pack that's willing to take you in," Bran said, tapping his foot on the linoleum floor. "Over in California. The Trinity River Pack."

"I'm not going to California," Nova declared, sipping her coffee. She leaned against the flower covered wallpaper and refused to look at Bran who sat in one of the dingy kitchen chairs.

"You'll go to California if I tell you to go to California."

Nova narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, well you know what? I have half a mind not to listen to you anymore. I've been through practically every pack in the country and none have worked out. Why is this one going to be any different?" she snarled and Bran's look told her to stop talking but she didn't. Of course she didn't. "It's easy for you to just tell me where to go but you're not the one who has to meet different wolves every time. You're not the one who has to try and fit in."

"You're right, I'm not. I've already done that and found my place. Now its you're turn." Bran stared at her and, despite his golden eyes, his tone was wise and helpful.

Nova glanced at him, "What if this one doesn't work either?"

Bran was quiet for a minute, his tapping silenced. "You cant stay here forever, Nova."

She stared at her coffee mug, watching the swirls of steam rise and dissipate. "I could go and stay with Love over in Britain," she offered. Love was her twin sister, married to the British Marrok. Vincent didn't like Nova much but she could make it work if she had to.

"You could," Bran agreed. "But I know you and you wouldn't survive one week over there. They're a lot less lenient with their females and you need breathing room, which they don't give."

"I don't get any over here, either," she muttered, taking a sip from the mug.

"Oh give it a rest, Nova. I am not breathing down your neck every two minutes. You can believe all you want that you have no breathing room but if and when you go over to Europe you'll feel what no breathing room really is." Bran was stern with her, giving her the truth and nothing but the truth.

Nova swallowed, for once having nothing to say. So Bran continued.

"Caleb is nice. He's willing to let you stay in his home so you don't have to find a permanent home there just yet. They're not going to pressure you, Nova. They want to get to know you. I know the others haven't worked out but please just try this last one."

"Fine, I will. Just please stop begging. It's not in character for you and quite frankly its freaking me out." She smiled at him and set her mug down. "When do I go?"

"Tonight."

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**That concludes that! Not much, I know, but I had to write it so it didn't give anything away :D I hope y'all enjoyed. I'm not expecting a lot of reviews because this is just the prologue but at least you read it and got this far!**

**First I'd like to say I got this story idea from a Mercy Thompson Roleplay site that a friend of mine made. It's AWESOME! It's the RP me and her are doing and lets hope I can rewrite it with the same awesomenessness! :D Review if you'd like!**

**The song I listened to, and recommend you listening to as you read, is Second Chance by Shinedown. And the title of the story is also a song. The Only Exception by Paramore. My chapters will always have the song title that has inspired them ****J **

**The site link is this: **. (If it isn't visible message me! :) )

**(I've got that memorized and it's a constant open window on my phone AND computer! :3)**

**Join us if you'd like and look for chapter one coming up soon!**

**Ciao!**

**~Me**


	2. Starts With One

**Sorry for the long wait, y'all! I've been busy with school (PSAT's last Wednesday. UGH!) and Homecoming is coming up. PLUS all the different stories running through my mind haven't helped with writing this AT ALL! **

**Thanks to many musical artists for providing my with their amazing music and thanks to the writers and RPers of The Mercy Thompson Series Roleplay site for writing this with me and letting me make this into a story!**

**Thank you all for waiting and reading this story and A/N (if you are O.o) ! **

_**FYI: I RCCOMEND Starts With One by Shiny Toy Guns TO LISTEN TO WHILE READING THE BEGINNING OF THIS! If you have a better song for the rest go ahead :D I really didnt have a basis song this time... SHOCKER! I know!**_

**ENJOY!**

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Nova weaved in and out of traffic on one of the highways running through Lewiston, California.

'That… that…. Ugh! I can't believe I agreed to this. Driving over a thousand miles to some place that I don't even know I'm going to be staying longer than a week. He knows how much I hate driving. Why couldn't he just have Charles fly me? Or Sam? He himself! Anything's better than this torture.' Her thoughts droned on and on, refraining from using words she'd learned from her year at boot camp. She knew enough to make a sailor blush, but did she use it? Only when necessary.

She revved the decent sized engine of her motorcycle and made a graceful swerve onto the Lewiston Turnpike, taking that a half mile before turning right on Deadwood Road. The bike was a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 and was very slick and _very _fast.

"Finally," she muttered, entering Lewiston officially. Now to find the alpha's home.

She slinked through more cars, not liking the speed limit here already, and onward to a concealed road through forest and shrubbery on each side. It wasn't overly grown, though. It was a modern road, paved and in good shape, but it was just surrounded by trees to the left and right of her. Here there were no cars so she was free to speed as much as she wanted, letting the wind glance off of her sleek, black helmet that concealed her pale, defined face. She may not like driving but when she had to she liked to have a nice car, or bike, decent stretches of road in front of her, and a high speed limit. Preferably seventy-five to eighty. Higher, even.

Nova finally found the large mansion. It was nestled in a patch of forest clear of trees which gave enough room for a front and back yard that abruptly cut off at the tree line. She parked the lustrous motorcycle at the very edge of the driveway and sat there for a minute, quiet and contemplating. She could just drive away, say she'd rather stay a rogue and just head over to Britain. She knew Bran wouldn't be happy, and she would probably be turning down the only opportunity at a home down but… the loner's life suited her well. No one to worry about; no one to judge her and tell her what to do or say.

She would have driven off right then and there but she would be lying to herself if she said her reason for leaving was not wanting a family. She wanted a family, somewhere to belong. It's just she needed to find a place that wanted her, and a place she wanted herself. Trust is a hard thing to come by once you've finally established it with people and one by one they snatch it out from beneath you.

She slid off the motorbike and unbuckled her black helmet and secured it onto the seat.

"Morning, Girlie Wolf."

Nova heard him and was silent. Bran had warned her that even though the pack was brand new and small that it still had another male member besides the alpha. Bran knew the alpha and had assured her that he could be trusted, but this other male, even though he had stayed in Aspen Creek for awhile, had kept to himself and Bran knew little of him.

She knocked the kick-stand down with the tip of her combat boot and turned to make her way up the stone path. The brunette pulled her cashmere gloves from her slim hands and fixed her hair, moving it out of her face and over her shoulder while running her fingers through it to make sure no fly-a-ways were present. Her hair had a slight curl to it, they weren't small curls, but more like large waves.

She raised her hand to knock, but hesitated and finally gripped the cold doorknob and walked in.

She was taken aback by the blast of cold air. She shouldn't have been surprised though, werewolves did like their surroundings cold. If not they got rather cranky. She looked around and found the house suitable, well kept and clean, and nice to say the least. It had a good aura about it that made her seem welcome.

"Morning," she finally replied to the other wolf, her voice rather timid which surprised her. She wasn't the type to be timid, but maybe it was because she hadn't been around another male were' besides Bran in so long.

"And you must be Nova Scotia," the man laughed, lounging on the living room couch.

"You'd think he'd grow out of his idiocy," the alpha, she remembered his name was Caleb, muttered, mostly to himself, as he appeared down from the stairs. He then added, in a cheerful and welcoming tone, "Good morning, Miss Eden, and welcome to the Trinity River Pack territory. I'm Caleb and this is Kristopher."

"You're now standing it pack central." Kristopher was now behind his alpha, standing carelessly with his hands in his pockets. "Amandrea should be down in a moment. Amy!" he called up the stairs.

Caleb growled, turning his head slightly and moving so he could see both Kristopher and Nova out of the corners of his eyes. "You will not call my mate by 'Amy' and you will call her with some respect." He then turned back to Nova. "I apologize for… it."

Kris paused. "Err- Never mind Amandrea… Take your time…"

Nova assumed that when Kris was called 'it', he was in deep. Which he sure portrayed it.

"Sorry, Boss, that was out of line." He then turned to Nova. "He only does that to me. No worries."

"You're the only one who needs to be taught a lesson." Caleb smirked and shook his head. "I do apologize, I leave my home open to my pack. However, on days like this, it is not always the most convenient situation."

Nova smirked at the two males before her, eyes alight with amusement.

"Any trouble?" she asked suddenly, wanting to know if there was anything she could do besides sit in the house for the rest of the day.

While waiting for Caleb to reply she took them both in. Caleb she'd seen before; he had sandy blond hair, was tan, blue eyes, and was so-so tall. But this other man was new. Dark brown hair, green eyes, pale skin... Like hers. Well built for an idiot, too. Not that she thought him one. Where Caleb had said 'idiot', Nova would have said 'comic.' Kris was funny; at least to her. But sometimes she had a deranged sense of humor.

"Any more than usual," Caleb paused for a moment, looked at Kris-who was singing some stupid song he had in his head-and turned back to Nova. "Other than a little problem with a rogue or two we took care of, the only problem any of us have is...him."

"And now I have Nova I can take to my side of the force."

"Too much Star Wars, Kris, and last I checked the Omega hit you upside the head when she met you." Caleb smiled and shook his head. "You'll learn to live with him."

"So, Boss, I'm still your second then, right? Because we have the Omega, Amandrea is your mate, and now we have a female...so I'm second..."

"You are not my second, nor will you ever be at this rate." Caleb sighed, "Go be my second elsewhere. Why don't you take Nova for a tour. I'm going to see what's keeping Amandrea."

Nova just watched them, not knowing what to do. She merely nodded to Caleb while her mind was on other things. Many things. Like... Hunting. Hunting sounded pretty good right now. Blood and _fresh meat_...

She blinked back the white in her eyes and looked at Kris, when Caleb disappeared upstairs, expectantly. She stood there, not saying a word. It was rather odd. She sometimes convinced people that she was mute.

Nova glanced at the stairs when the other woman, Amandrea, walked downstairs and turned into the kitchen, muttering threateningly, "Kris, I woke up to _Amy _and that is _not _a good sign."

"What were you saying?" she asked once she made her way to the foyer with a bread roll in hand, layered with butter, then turned towards Nova. "Hey! You guys didn't tell me there was a new _girl_!" Her face lit up as she blindly hit Kris in the face with the roll.

Kris made a face. "Sweet Jesus, woman, quit it with the bread!" He rolled his eyes and turned to the Nova. "Come on, how about that tour?"

Caleb had pressed himself to the wall of the staircase to let Amandrea by but he now wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"I told you about Nova, and please stop hitting Kris with bread."

"Are you coming, then?" Kris asked, having walked towards the first stop on the tour impatiently. Nova looked from him to Amandrea as she interrupted him.

"But it's fun!" She gave the look of defeat "Anyways, hi Nova! I'm Amandrea but the boys probably told you that, so welcome!"

"Amandrea is our alpha's mate, they're getting married." Kris rolled his eyes, "Now come along."

Caleb held his mate tighter as she narrowed her eyes.

Nova nodded at Kris but said to the two other members of the pack, "Congratulations." She smirked at Amandrea and held in a bubble of laughter at the girls earlier outburst. She liked this girl; she was entertaining.

She finally turned to Kris and followed him, staying silent as he gave the tour.

"Well, this here, this is the living room, I all but sleep here, especially when the other two are at work."

"Because he doesn't have a job," Caleb grumbled, still in the foyer but with werewolves keen hearing he could have been in the room.

"Right, okay, well, and here we have the big screen TV that I didn't pay for with pack taxes for _once_." He rolled his eyes. "Ten percent of your income; finally got past that."

"You didn't pay for _anything_," Caleb disagreed. "You don't have an income."

Kris, oblivious to his alpha, continued on. "And here we have Caleb's office. I'm not actually allowed in there, everyone else is, though." Kris snorted, "Like I'm going to break something, really." He continued. "Downstairs they have twelve guest rooms, two conference rooms, three safe rooms, an operation table somewhere, I think, two huge rooms with just plain old cots lined up against the walls, and I think we may have a fighting ring."

"Dojo," Caleb corrected.

"Right, that, I knew we had one," Kristopher nodded. "And upstairs we go."

Nova could have sworn she'd acquired whiplash from the two men going back and forth at each other. She felt it rude not to look at the person who was talking and they'd been firing off the comments and rooms so fast it almost made her head spin. Almost. She soaked it all in, though, and made a mental list of the rooms. She'd have to explore later to make a mental map to go with it.

She simply followed Kris upstairs and glanced around. The house was very nice and... homey. Some would have to say much more comfortable than the various hotels she'd stayed at for the past few years. The hotels were small and compact, though. Not so open and... free. You'd of thought she'd be used to freedom by now but with all the enemies she'd made over the past decade... She'd built her own prison.

She snapped her attention back to Kris who was still introducing the variety of rooms.

"That is a room I have never dared to go in," Kris pointed. "Originally it was Caleb's bedroom, but now it's Amandrea's as well..." He shook his head. "How they ended up together I'll never know."

He moved on. "These four are guest rooms, all have their own bathroom. Two kid's rooms, though no one has kids. Both of them have two bunk beds, so there are eight kid's beds for no kids. That makes total sense, doesn't it? And here we have the kid's bathroom and/or regular bathroom. We have something like five in the basement, forgot to mention that earlier." He took her back to the main floor. "We have one bathroom down that hall along with a huge closet; a linen closet-though I don't know the difference-a shoe closet for Amandrea because she works at T.J. Maxx, then we have another guest room." He rolled his eyes.

"Okay, here we have the kitchen, you saw that. We have that double sink, two dishwashers, many plates and glasses, cream tile with a table and an island. If you look to the living room again, you'll notice it has white carpet, don't ask me why. At least we found a place that cleans everything out of carpets and bed sheets-don't ask." Here he sighed. "There's a dining room down the hall, a second identical one downstairs, and a coatroom in the main entrance. If you are stupid enough to walk in the coatroom and you go all the way to the back, you reach our pretty laundry room. There's another one downstairs that the pack is free to use.

In the end, everything is in the basement. I'd bring you down there...but...well...it takes around two days for a complete tour. Really you just find things by walking into them."

Nova smirked. He sounded much like a realtor.

"Aw, I was expecting you to say Narnia was at the back of the coat closet," she said, feigning disappointment. "That's fine, though. I'll probably get bored and walk around later, anyways." She shrugged and then added, as if an after thought, "Thank you."

"Any time, ma'am," he tipped an imaginary hat and smirked as he bowed a little.

"You're not that old, Kris." Caleb chuckled. "Nova, feel free to wander about as you wish, it's your home as much it is mine."

"Just don't wander into his and Amandrea's room, that's bad." Kris warned.

Nova nodded at Kris and Caleb, Kris in acknowledgement and Caleb in appreciation. She finally looked away from the two men and strolled to the stairwell that led down to the basement to explore.

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